Carpet anchoring strip

ABSTRACT

A carpet anchoring strip for wall-to-wall carpet when laid on a concrete floor which comprises two strips joined together, the one strip of a hardwood providing the pronged holding means for the edge of the carpet and the other strip of a soft, bendable material being adaptable to any irregularity in the concrete surface and easily anchored with metal anchoring nails and also bendable to lift slightly on its forward edge under extreme tensionable pull of the carpet without shearing its nailed, anchored fixation with the concrete floor. The anchoring strip is quickly and easily laid due to a small leading edge that abuts the wall or carpet abutment.

United States Patent 1 Porzio CARPET ANCHORING STRIP [76] Inventor: George Porzio, 9 Lakeland Drive,

Bricktown, NJ.

[22] Filed: July 12, 1971 [21] Appl. N0.: 161,597

[52] US. Cl.'. ..16/16 [51] Int. Cl. ..A47g 27/04 [58] Field'of Search ..16/4, 16; 52/273 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,926,378 3/1960 Eichhorn et al ..16/4 3,062,342 ll/l962 Clements ..52/273 2,21 1,574 8/1940 McNicholas ..52/273 1] 3,727,264 1] Apr. 17, 1973 Primary Examiner-James T. McCall Assistant Examiner-Doris L Troutman Attorney-Howard T. Jeandron [5 7] ABSTRACT due to a small leading edge that abuts the wall or carpet abutment.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures PATENIEUAPR 1 71m INVENTOR. GEURGE PORZ/L? BY AEENT CARPET ANCHORING STRIP This invention relates to my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,273 drawn to a Carpet Anchoring Strip Method and particularly to the design of the strip and composition to provide a positive holding gripper strip for installing wall to wall carpet on a floor and particularly on a concrete floor.

Carpet grippers having sloping carpet engaging means with the points thereof directed toward one edge of the gripper strip are installed at the junction of a wall and the floor with the points directed towards the wall. In making such an installation, the strip must be spaced slightly from the wall to allow room for tucking the edge of the carpet between the strip and the wall, also the strip must be nailed down to the floor. With wood floors this is no problem but with a concrete floor, due to the fact that concrete allows little penetration and the nail tends to flake off pieces of concrete, the penetration of the nail produces a fairly good setting of the strip to resist a shear stress, but a very poor setting if there is an upward pull. Also since the gripper strip used is of hard tough wood, hammering to drive a nail through the strip and into the concrete produces vibration or rebound of the strip'so that driving of successive nails in adjacent areas tends to loosen or pull the nail or nails already driven.

It is an object of this invention to provide a carpet gripper strip which is easily, rapidly and accurately installed in long or short lengths with a minimum of fatigue on the part of the installer.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a base strip of softer wood fastened under the gripper strip and provide it of a thin single ply of plywood so that hammering of fastening nails produces little vibration in the base strip and therefore little effect to dislodge other nails already driven into the concrete base.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a base strip of softer wood fastened under the gripper strip and provide it of a thin single ply of plywood so that it is easily nailed to the floor and further the nails may be spaced back from the gripper strip thus with the carpet affixed to the gripper strip, the base strip permits a degree of bending or give when the carpet is cleaned and starts to shrink, the base strip tending to return the stretch of the carpet to its fitted position, the holding nails always resisting the sheet stress developed.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a base strip of softer wood fastenend under the gripper strip and provide it of a thin single ply of plywood so that when the strip is laid over an uneven concrete floor only the base strip will be bent or distorted in nailing, the gripper strip remains level and secure, the stress and distortion developed in nailing is not transferred from one nail to another.

A still further" object of this invention is to take advantage of the grain of the top and bottom layers of a three ply sheet of plywood by running the grain of the top and lower layers at right angles to the carpet gripper strip, thus any vibration during hammering on the strip would be transferred outward and not along the strip toward the next holding nail.

A still further object of this invention is to provide spaced slits radiating outward from the gripper strip, thus any vibration during hammering on the strip would be transferred outward on each strip hammered and not along the gripper strip and would not affect adjacent strip nails.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an extended leading edge on the gripper strip so that the strip may be butted against the wall and fastened and the marginal space is maintained for tucking the edge of the carpet when it has been afiixed to the gripper strip.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a nailing area on said strips that is far enough back from the wall where the concrete floor slab may end thus the hammering of fastening nails has less chance of cracking the edge of the concrete slab, (particularly freshly set concrete that has not thoroughly cured) this problem becomes apparent when short pieces of carpet grippers are pressed into an abutment with the wall and nailed.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a nailing area on said strips that is back of the gripper strip to permit stapling of the edge of a carpet pad that is laid under the carpet.

Other objects of this invention shall be apparent by reference to the accompanying detailed description and the drawings in which FIG. 1 is a plan view (slightly in perspective) of a combination gripper strip and base for holding the edge of a wall-to-wall carpet,

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of a gripper strip and base mounted on a concrete floor adjacent a partition or wall,

FIG. 3 is a further embodiment. of FIG. 1 in which th base is slit into separated portions, and

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of a gripper strip and base with additional wedging means for wedging the front edge of the strip to the bottom of a wall or partition.

Referring to the drawings and particularly FIG. 1 there is illustrated an anchoring strip 10 used for wallto-wall carpet and particularly designed according to this invention. The anchoring strip 10 is provided in long pieces that may be cut to any desired length. The anchoring strip 10 is comprised of a plywood base 11 with a narrow block 12 rigidly secured to strip 1 1. The leading edge 14 of block 12 is set back from the edge 15 of strip 11. Block 12 is provided with a plurality of carpet hooking nails 16 with the pointed ends of the nails extending upward from the top surface of block 12 and slightly toward the leading edge 14. All of the pointed ends are oriented in the same direction so that when the anchoring strip is fixed to the floor, all of the hooking nails 16 will be pointed toward the wall 17 (FIG. 2).

Referring to FIG. 2, with a concrete floor 23 upon which wall-to-wall carpet 24 is to be installed, when installing carpet wall-to-wall, it is necessary to anchor the carpet at the wall. Therefore an anchoring strip 10 must be provided adjacent the wall or baseboard. With the installation of this type of carpet, a foam pad 25 is normally laid upon the floor and the carpet 24 laid over pad 25. Thus the anchoring strip must be thick enough to align the top surface of block '12 with the surface of the foam pad 25. It is to be noted! that the leading edge 15 of the anchoring strip is butted against the wall 17, thus the edge 14 of the block 12 is spaced slightly from the surface of the wall or baseboard as the case may be to permit tucking the edge of the carpet out of sight after the carpet has been properly stretched and anchored upon the hooking nails 16. When the anchoring strip is to be anchored to a concrete floor, a plurality of specially hardened nails 26 are provided and nails 26 are driven through the plywood 11 into the concrete as illustrated in FIG. 2. Due to the hardness of the concrete, the nails provide a sufficient grip for a shear stress, that is, a direct pull of the carpet along the surface of the concrete would produce a shear stress on nails 26. Due to the stretch of the carpet, there is both a shear stress on the nails 26 and a tendency for the anchoring strip to be bowed or bent, lifting the front edge 14 as shown in dotted lines (FIG. 2). Therefore nails 26 are fastened as far back on strip 11 as possible so that only a shear stress is produced on nails 26. The block 12 is generally formed of a hardwood and the strip 11 should be formed with a soft wood. A plywood strip may be used because of its bending ability under stress. The block 12 is securely affixed to the plywood strip 11 in the position as illustrated, that is, it is set back slightly from the front edge 11A of the strip 11 to thus provide a spacing from the face of the wall 17 to permit tucking the edge of the carpet 24 as illustrated. Thus with block 12 mounted to strip 11, there is no need for accurate fitting. The strip is simply abutted against the face of wall 17 and a nail 26 driven through strip 11 as illustrated thus securing the anchoring strip to the concrete floor. If there is a grain in the plywood or strip 11 it is preferable that the grain of the wood runs longitudinally looking at FIG. 1. Thus when hammering nail 26 through strip 11, each successive nail, when positioned, will provide a rebound or vibration that will run lengthwise and will not affect the prior nails that have been set.

Referring to FIG. 3 a further embodiment of this invention is provided in which the strip 11 is provided with a plurality of slits 11B. Thus the nailing position of nails 26 are isolated from each other so that no cross vibration in nailing can affect adjacent nails as they are positioned. Any rebound or vibration will run only the length of the strip as separated from its adjoining strip. It is to be noted that the nails 26 are set back from the forward edge 1 1A of the strip. This is intentional as the nails 26 provide a sufficient retention in concrete for a shear stress but provide very poor retention if there is a direct pull upward on the nail 26. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 2, with the strip affixed as illustrated, if the carpet 24 is washed and there is any shrinkage, the pull of the carpet will lift the front edge of strip 11 without dislodging the anchored nail 26 as it is still directly under a shear stress. The shrinkage as a rule produces very little lift as it takes an extreme pull to lift the strip as high as indicated in FIG. 2. A further reason for positioning nails 26 at a distance from the leading edge 1 1A is that in many instances the concrete floor may end at the base line of wall 17 instead of extending as illustrated in FIG. 2 and the concrete slab in some instances may be a thin slab as illustrated in dotted lines and any nailing or any attempt to introduce nails 26 into this type of concrete slab, if hammered close to the edge of the slab, there is a tendency for the concrete to break off. The further back the nailing can be inserted, the less chance there is for the front edge of the slab to be ruptured and crack off especially with green concrete before it has thoroughly cured.

A further consideration in the design of this anchoring strip is the extended base portion 11 of a thin strip with the thicker block 12 mounted on the front edge. Thus an extended portion 28 is provided to which a carpet pad 25 may be stapled to retain the pad 25 in place before the carpet 24 is laid. It is to be further noted that the dimension between the edge 14 of block 12 and the edge 15 of strip 11 may vary based upon the dimension of the carpet being laid. It is apparent that a cheap thin carpet will require a tighter fit whereas a heavy carpet will naturally require a larger dimension to permit tucking the edge as illustrated.

A still further consideration for the use of a strip 1 l of softer composition than block 12 is that in laying carpet on concrete floors, the floor at times may be irregular. There may be hollows and in nailing a hard wood strip such as strip 12, the success of nailing along the strip instead of distorting the strip to fit the variations in surface, the strip would tend to bounce and pull the nails that had been inserted. Whereas with the softer material strip 11 when placed upon an irregular surface will bend and fit the contour of the surface when nailed without transferring any stress to successive nails as they are applied.

A further embodiment of the anchoring strip is that although the strip may be applied to a concrete floor as in the prior embodiments, it may be desirable to retain the front edge of the anchoringstrip anchored with relation to a frame wall 17A. In this instance the block 12 may be provided with a long nail 12A inserted at an angle as illustrated so that after the block has been mounted, the nail 12A may be driven to penetrate under the partition or wall 17A. Thus the anchoring strip will be retained along its front edge.

Although an anchoring strip for carpet has been illustrated as applied to a concrete floor, it is to be understood that the anchoring strip of this invention may be applied to any hard surface floor where wall-to-wall carpet is to be stretched and laid. In the event the carpet is to be laid outside of a building, a curb or boundary element similar to a baseboard must be used. However the boundary must be heavy enough or anchored to the concrete upon which the carpet is laid to provide a proper anchor for the anchoring strip. The particular design of the attaching means may be varied without departing from the spirit of this invention.

The invention described in detail in the foregoing specification is subject to changes and modifications without departing from the principle and spirit thereof. The terminology used is for purposes of description and not of limitation; the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A carpet gripper strip for securing the edges of carpet and carpet pads to a concrete floor, comprising a first elongated narrow block section of hard wood and a second base member of softer wood similarly elongated but wider than the first hardwood block section, said first block section positioned on said second base member so that the front edge of the base member extends beyond the front edge of the first block member a distance equal to the thickness of the carpet to which it is applied, said two members being secured together, said first elongated narrow block section having a plurality to forwardly directed gripper strip prongs for gripping and retaining a carpet when laid, said base member having a plurality of hardened concrete piercing nails affixed adjacent the rear edge of 5 

1. A carpet gripper strip for securing the edges of carpet and carpet pads to a concrete floor, comprising a first elongated narrow block section of hard wood and a second base member of softer wood similarly elongated but wider than the first hardwood block section, said first block section positioned on said second base member so that the front edge of the base member extends beyond the front edge of the first block member a distance equal to the thickness of the carpet to which it is applied, said two members being secured together, said first elongated narrow block section having a plurality to forwardly directed gripper strip prongs for gripping and retaining a carpet when laid, said base member having a plurality of hardened concrete piercing nails affixed adjacent the rear edge of said base member in spaced relationship to the rear edge in which said second base member is provided with a plurality of slits running crosswise of the elongated strip to isolate each concrete piercing nail. 